Strange Geometry 2
by JenniDaCutie
Summary: Fi thought she had seen the last of Mr. Patterson and his "strange geometry". But, has Annie discovered something that everyone has missed? And who is that strange girl in the pictures with that man? Please read and review... but don't flame me! I'm n
1. The Visitor

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the show or the characters... although I could deal with owning Patrick Levis, Erik von Detton, and Eric Lively! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Annie!" Molly Phillips yelled. "This is the house where we're shooting the video. Let's go!" Fourteen year old Annie Thelan came running from her room in the back of the tour bus. As she walked through the kitchen, Jack Phillips stuck out his foot. Since she wasn't paying attention, Annie tripped and fell against the couch.  
"Jack!" the girl screeched. Jack laughed at Annie, who's hair was now covering her face, and blue jeans and red halter top were no longer looking perfect. Still laughing, he hopped off the bus and went running across the lawn of the mansion. Annie, however, was right on his heels. She was just catching up to Jack as he ran into Clu, who was carrying a guitar and another suitcase.  
"Woah, dudes. Watch it, unless you want Molly getting pissed. This is Carey's new guitar, Jack!" Annie backed up sheepishly, leaving Jack to take the fall. Not sure what else to do, she entered the huge house that stood before her. Annie walked down the long hallway that stood before her. Not surprisingly, the place was filled with dust that made her sneeze.   
"Wow," Annie whispered, "Check out all of this old stuff. This picture's gotta be a million years old." She slowly traced her finger over an old black and white painting of a man. It looked strangely familiar, like something Fiona had showed her before. As she tried to remember, a loud noise behind her startled her. She whipped around to discover Molly, who had dropped the large box she was carrying.  
"Shoot!" Molly muttered. Annie noticed the word "fragile" scrawled on the side of the box in Ned's messy handwriting.  
"Here," offered Annie. "Let me help you."   
"Thank you, Annie," Molly remarked. They picked up the box and Annie followed Molly into a gigantic room. Against the wall was a huge couch and on another wall were hundreds of pictures. The high ceiling made the room look even bigger. The fire place was lit, giving a somewhat homey appeal to the room. Again, pictures of a man seemed to jump out at her from the wall. She walked toward the wall, without looking where she was going. Clumsily, she tripped over the cord that was attatched to the sound board.  
"Annie!" Carey cried. "Watch it! It took my mom a while to even get those cords untangled." She glanced up, embarassed.   
"Sorry, Carey. I just wasn't paying attention." Molly came over and layed a hand on the teen's shoulder.  
"Who's that man in the picture, Molly?" Annie questioned.  
"I'm not sure, sweetie. This place is owned by the park authority and there isn't loads of info available on the place. Why don't you go explore, Annie?" suggested the singer. "Oh, and take Jack with you."  
"Mom!" came the cry. "Why do I have to babysit her? She's fourteen!" It was Jack. Molly looked at her son with a mix of frustration and humor. Annie stood there with a pout on her face, not wanting to have *Jack* with her.  
"He's right," she thought to herself. "I am old enough to be treated like he is! I wish Molly would stop babying me!" Molly looked at Jack, begging him with her eyes.   
"I'll be right back, Annie," she said. "Don't go anywhere." Taking Jack's arm, Molly walked out into the hallway. Once they were out of an earshot of Annie, Molly turned her son to face her.  
"Mom!" Jack began.  
"Come on, Jack," she pleaded. "Trust me, it's just until we get set up. But, until then, I don't need her getting in the way. We're really on a time crunch for this video, and the camera crew will be here in an hour. Please, Jack!" Jack frowned at his mother, who was beginning to make a puppy face.  
"Aw, mom, not the eyes!" he groaned. "Okay, okay, I'll keep an eye on her. But that doesn't mean that I'll buy into her 'ghost' stuff. You know she'll start off on that as soon as she starts exploring." Molly hugged her son.  
"I know, I know," she said. "But if it keeps her out of the way until we're set up, then I think you can deal. Now, come on." Molly took Jack's arm and led him back into the room. Annie stuck her tongue out at Jack, and before Molly could see, pulled it back in. Jack returned the gesture.  
"Well," Annie remarked, "I'm gonna go check things out. Bye, Molly." The teenager tried to dart out the door before she could get stuck with Jack. However, Molly grabbed her arm.  
"Oh, no you don't. You hang with Jack until someone else gets here. Okay?" Annie sighed, but nodded.   
"I don't mean to insult you when I act like that," Annie commented, as she headed out the door.  
"Ya, I know," Jack commented. Annie punched him lightly on the arm and they both laughed. Looking around in the hallway, she chose a door and opened it. A long flight of stairs stood in front of her and she looked at Jack. Before she had a chance to say something, a movement caught her eye. Quickly, Annie turned her head, only to see a light disappear from the top of the steps.  
"Jack, who's upstairs?" she asked. He looked at her strangely.  
"Nobody; everyone's in the living room," Jack told her. "Why?"  
"I think someone else has come to visit."  
  



	2. Who's Alexandra Patte?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the show or the characters... although I could deal with owning Patrick Levis, Erik von Detton, and Eric Lively! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack looked at Annie and frowned. The last thing he wanted to hear out of her right now was ghost stuff. The light continued to shine from the other side of the door.  
"Annie, come on," he groaned. "You know I can usually deal with you, but don't start this again." Sticking her tongue out, the girl began to cautiously climb the creaky staircase. Jack had no choice but to follow her. When they reached the top of the narrow stairs, there was an old door. Annie reached for the rusted handle, but found it locked. There was no key in site.  
"Ugh!" she sighed. "This *always* happens!" Jack smiled to himself.  
"She's so cute when she's mad," he thought. Realizing what had just gone through his head, he smacked himself. Annie gave him a confused look.  
"I just remembered where I put the sandwiches," he cried. Torn between crying and laughing, Annie started back down the steps. When she reached the bottom, she saw yet another picture with a man and a young girl. The girl was smiling up at the man, whom Annie presumed to be her father. The two were dressed up in their Sunday-best and the girl held a rose. Unfortunately, Annie couldn't make out anything else in the old black and white photo.  
"Who's that man, Jack?" she asked. He shrugged.  
"Like I know? Who cares?" he replied sharply. Frustrated, Annie took off down the hallway and outside, into the woods. When she had finally lost Jack, Annie paused to take a breath. She didn't recognize her surroundings and definitely couldn't see the house through the thick trees. A fog was beginning to roll across the wooded area, making everything difficult to see. Due to the thick woods, it was fairly dark in the clearing anyways. Suddenly, a flash of light caught Annie's eye and she got goosebumps everywhere. She turned to see a break in the trees that hadn't been there before. Looking around, she decided to go and explore what was beyond those trees. As she stepped forward, Annie faintly heard Jack hollering her name.  
"Maybe I should wait," she thought. "I mean, I don't wanna make him mad." Both choices ran through her head, and she finally decided to go ahead and explore the woods. As she walked through the darkened woods, the faint light stayed a good distance ahead. She was able to follow it for almost an eighth of a mile before it disappeared. Trying to figure out what the light was and why it was giving her this *weird* feeling, Annie walked to the clearing where the light had disappeared. There was nothing there in the clearing, or so she thought. When Annie turned to retrace her steps, she tripped over a rock. Yelping in pain, the teen moved the surrounding leaves to see what the rock really was. She gasped to discover a small, oddly shaped gravestone and the goosebumps got worse. She bent down to read what it said.  
"Alexandra Patte... ugh!" Annie cried in frustration. "The rest of it is buried in the mud!" As she tried to dig part of the gravestone out of the thick mud, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Screaming, she stood up. Jack stood behind her.  
"What the heck are you doing, Annie?! Molly saw you go running off and almost killed me! I know you hate me and all, but don't get me killed." Annie sighed and began to follow Jack back toward the house.  
"I don't hate you," she said indignantly. "I just saw this light and I followed it. Then, it disappeared and I found this grave stone. Who would Alexandra Patte be, Jack?" He gave her a weird look.  
"I don't know! Pluse, do you think I really care who Alexandra Patte was?" When he saw the disappointed look on Annie's face, Jack laid his arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, kiddo. I just was worried when you disappeared like that." She smiled.  
"You mean, you were worried about me?" Annie asked mockingly. Jack mentally kicked himself for being so outright and pulled his hand back by his side.  
"I just wouldn't want Mom to kill me. By the way, you dropped this back by that gravestone. It's a key, I think." Annie took the object from Jack and studied it. It was some kind of old key, probably from the Victorian age, or maybe earlier. There was a slight rust on some of the silver.  
"I didn't drop this," she stated. "This is definitely not mine. It's too old." Jack shrugged his shoulders and they kept on walking toward the house. It was only a few minutes before they reached the mansion again. As they walked back into the huge house, a thought hit Annie so hard, she was surprised she hadn't thought of it before. What about that keyhole in the door?! Before she could say anything, Molly came rushing out of the house.  
"Annie!" she yelled. "Where did you go? Are you okay?" The girl nodded. Jack stood surprisingly and protectively close to Annie. Annie noticed Jack's close presence but didn't make a move to step away. It was strangely comforting after being frightened.  
"I'm fine. I have to go do some research on my laptop, but I have a quick question." Molly nodded.  
"Go ahead, sweetie." Annie shuddered for some reason. It was as if this place looked strangely familiar, but she couldn't place it.  
"Do you know who originally owned this house? I mean, before the park authority bought it." Molly's eyebrows furrowed as she fought to remember.  
"I don't know, baby. You go ahead and look up whatever that was that you were going to go find out about, and I will let you know when I remember."  
"Thanks, Molly," Annie replied. Molly nodded and let Annie walk off toward the bus. Smiling, Molly noticed that Jack was right by Annie's side.  
"Wait!" Molly called. Annie turned around and practically tripped over Jack. She cast him a "look" before facing Molly. "The girl's name was Alexandra Patterson!" Annie's eyes grew wide. She almost fell over backwards as she looked back up at the old Patterson house, only to see a ghostly white figure in an elegant, white, wedding dress *floating* across an the attic window of the mansion.  
  



	3. The Key and The Door

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the show or the characters... although I could deal with owning Patrick Levis, Erik von Detton, and Eric Lively! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Within seconds, Annie was in her room and on her laptop. A message popped up on the screen as soon as she logged on; it was Fi.   
"I'll be watching some tube. Let me know if you..." Jack trailed off, realizing he didn't have Annie's attention. Mad at himself for being such a dork, Jack slumped on to the couch and turned on the TV. He figured he never had a shot with her. She was so pretty, and sweet, and kind, and just...*ugh* perfect. Unhappily, he settled down to watch the Braves play the Yankees.  
Back in her room, Annie was desperately searching for information on Alexandra Patterson while she talked to Fi. After going through the usual "hey"s and "how are you?"s, Annie got right down to business.  
"Does the name 'Alexandra Patterson' ring a bell to you?" Annie typed. "Did you ever meet her or someone related to her?"  
"Nope," came the response. "I knew a Mr. Patterson, but I never found anything about any relatives... y?" Annie sighed and put Fi on pause while she typed "Alexandra Patterson" into her search engine. 37 matches came up, but one headline caught her eye. It's description said "Young Girl Dies In Freak Accident. Crazy Father Suspected." Annie clicked on the link. She skimmed the page before going back to Fi. Supposedly, this crazy man who was obsessed with the Fibinacci Sequence was suspected for killing his daughter. Annie decided she would come back later, and bookmarked the page.  
"This old mansion is a little creepy," typed Annie, "and this weird light has been showing up out of nowhere and then disappearing." Fi typed a bunch of question marks in response.  
"That is strange," said Rockerbaby's message. "Did you tell Molly?" Annie was about to type her message when the screen faded.  
"UGHHHH!" she screamed. A sleeping Jack came to a very rude awakening when he fell off the couch at the sound of Annie's scream. Quickly, he ran into Annie's room.   
"What happened?" he panted.  
"My stupid laptop just died! The plug must have fallen out!" Jack reached over and picked up the plug off of the floor.  
"You plugged this in after I left the room, right?" he asked. Annie gave him a strange look.  
"No," she replied. "It was already plugged in." Jack looked at her intensely.  
"I swear Annie," he insisted. "The plug was laying right *here* when I left the room. You never plugged it in, did you?" Annie shook her head.  
"I never touched the plug, but I was talking to Fi!"  
"Quit lying, Annie. You really need to learn when to be serious and when to joke around." Frustrated, Jack stormed from the room.   
"I'll show him," Annie mumbled. "He is always such a jerk! God, I wish Molly had stuck me with Carey, or Clu, or even Ned!" The teen waited until she heard Jack snoring in the other room, and then snuck off the bus.  
Inside the mansion, Annie decided to try the key in the door upstairs. Keeping an eye out for Molly, she hurridly opened the door and rushed up the stairs. As she turned back around to stick some tape on the door (so it wouldn't lock her in!) the door slammed itself shut. Annie screeched and struggled to pull the door open. She had no luck, though; it was stuck tight. To make matters worse, she could hear strains of Molly's new song beginning, so nobody would be able to hear her yell. Jack had no clue where she was, either. Figuring she had nothing better to do, Annie charged up the steps. Again, she was met by a small light on the other side of the door.  
"Hello?" the teen called. No anwer. Nervously, Annie took the rusted key out of her pocket. The door creaked open after a little force came from Annie's shoulder. What stood before her made her gasp and without warning, Annie tumbled head over heels down the narrow staircase with a scream. She landed with a sickening thud at the bottom of the closed door.   
  



End file.
